SYSTEMS AND METHODS TO IDENTIFY AND QUANTIFY FIELD DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES THROUGH INTEGRATION OF SURFACE AND SUB-SURFACE DATA
Systems and methods that calculate and display reservoir properties are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of displaying field development opportunities includes receiving production data including production attributes for a plurality of wells, receiving three-dimensional model data including model attributes from one or more fields, cross-linking the production data and the three-dimensional model data, and displaying a graphical user interface. The graphical user interface includes a two-dimensional view of a selected field and a plurality of graphs, each graph of the plurality of graphs including a plurality of bins. Each graph of the plurality of graphs corresponds to a reservoir property. Each bin of the plurality of bins corresponds to a range of values along one of the first axis and the second axis. The plurality of graphs are arranged within the graphical user interface such that the plurality of bins are aligned with one another.
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This application claims the benefit of priority under 35 U.S.C. § 119 to U.S. Provisional Application No. 63/022,899, filed on May 11, 2020 and entitled “Systems and Methods to Identify and Quantify Field Development Opportunities Through Integration of Surface and Sub-surface Data,” the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
BACKGROUNDOil and gas companies may annually update a business plan that is used for budgeting forecasts and resources allocation. This process may involve identifying areas of development where future wells will be drilled. Three-dimensional models of oil and/or gas fields may be used to calculate hydrocarbon volumes to identify prospective areas for development. However, quantifying hydrocarbon volumes through three-dimensional models is a challenging and cumbersome process. Conventionally, a user needs to predefine areas, rules and logics to perform a single volume calculation. This process needs to be repeated if volume calculations are needed for a different area or logics.
SUMMARYEmbodiments of the present disclosure are directed to systems and methods that calculate and display reservoir properties that are calculated from three-dimensional model data and production data so that a user may easily visualize areas of opportunity for field development. The three-dimensional model data and the production data are linked based on common location coordinates, and various reservoir properties are calculated for a plurality of locations. Reservoir properties are plotted in a side-by-side arrangement so that the user may compare multiple reservoir properties at binned locations to identify areas of opportunity. Embodiments further enable the on-the-fly calculation of hydrocarbon volumes in selected zones and or layers.
In one embodiment, a method of displaying field development opportunities includes receiving, from one or more databases, production data including production attributes for a plurality of wells, receiving, from the one or more databases, three-dimensional model data including model attributes from one or more fields, cross-linking the production data and the three-dimensional model data, and displaying, in an electronic display, a graphical user interface. The graphical user interface includes a two-dimensional view of a selected field of the one or more fields, wherein the two-dimensional view provides a first axis and a second axis, and a plurality of graphs, each graph of the plurality of graphs including a plurality of bins. Each graph of the plurality of graphs corresponds to a reservoir property. Each bin of the plurality of bins corresponds to a range of values along one of the first axis and the second axis. The plurality of graphs are arranged within the graphical user interface such that the plurality of bins are aligned with one another.
In another embodiment, a system for displaying field development opportunities includes one or more processors, an electronic display, and a non-transitory computer-readable memory storing instructions. When executed by the one or more processors, the instructions cause the one or more processors to receive, from one or more databases, production data including production attributes for a plurality of wells, receive, from the one or more databases, three-dimensional model data including model attributes from one or more fields, cross-link the production data and the three-dimensional model data, and display, in the electronic display, a graphical user interface. The graphical user interface includes a two-dimensional view of a selected field of the one or more fields, wherein the two-dimensional view provides a first axis and a second axis, and a plurality of graphs, each graph of the plurality of graphs including a plurality of bins. Each graph of the plurality of graphs corresponds to a reservoir property. Each bin of the plurality of bins corresponds to a range of values along one of the first axis and the second axis. The plurality of graphs are arranged within the graphical user interface such that the plurality of bins are aligned with one another.
It is to be understood that both the foregoing general description and the following detailed description present embodiments that are intended to provide an overview or framework for understanding the nature and character of the claims. The accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the disclosure, and are incorporated into and constitute a part of this specification. The drawings illustrate various embodiments and together with the description serve to explain the principles and operation.
Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to systems and methods that calculate and display reservoir properties that are calculated from three-dimensional and production data so that a user may easily visualize areas of opportunity for field development.
More particularly, embodiments link surface production data and sub-surface three-dimensional hydrocarbon volume by binning data based on location coordinates. The user may decide on the resolution of these bins and, once the regions are binned, and the three-dimensional hydrocarbon volume and the surface production data is split along these bins side by side, thereby providing direct comparison of three-dimensional volumes and production trends per region. This helps in identifying development area where there are significant hydrocarbon volumes yet to be swept, i.e. areas with high remaining hydrocarbon volume and less production in history.
Once an aerial development area of interest is identified, the embodiments provide drill-down analysis by calculating hydrocarbon volumes by vertical zones and layers. All of these volume calculations are performed interactively and on the fly, just by selecting the layers or zones in a graphical user interface, corresponding volumes in these layers is calculated. If volume calculation needs to be repeated for different set of layers or regions the user simply selects layers or filters from the respective windows and the calculations are updated.
Various embodiments of systems and methods that calculate and display reservoir properties are described in detail below.
Referring now to
The production data includes production attributes relating to the production of hydrocarbons for a plurality of wells, and may include the entire well history from the date of initial production to the current date. The production data may be continuously updated. Non-limiting example production attributes include:
-
- Field Name
- Reservoir Name
- Well Name and Number
- Unique Well Identifier (UWI)
- Date
- Flowing Well Head Pressure
- Well Operating Days
- Monthly Oil Volume Produced
- Monthly Water Volume Produced
- Monthly Gas Volume Produced
- Average Oil Rate
- Average Water Rate
- Average Gas Rate
- Average Water Cut
- Static Bottom Hole Pressure (SBHP).
Referring to
-
- Unique Well Identifier (UWI)
- UTMX coordinate
- UTMY coordinate.
The UTMX and UTMY coordinates provide the location coordinates for the plurality of wells. The unique well identifier may be an identification number use to reference wells. As described in more detail below, the location coordinates may be used to link the production data to the three-dimensional model data. In some embodiments, the well data and the production data are provided in tables. The table(s) of the well data and the table(s) of the production data are merged (e.g., using the unique well identifier).
Still referring to
-
- Porosity
- Permeability
- Water Saturation (one property for each unique Date in Production Table)
- Zones
- Cell Volume
- I index
- J index
- K index
- Cell UTMX coordinate
- Cell UTMY coordinate
- Reservoir Contact Index.
Referring to
Referring now to
As used herein, an aerial region is a top view of a field and includes all of the three-dimensional model cells (I, J, K) with all of the K layers stacked over each other in a two-dimensional view. The vertical layers are a sub-set of aerial regions and contain only the depth (K) dimension, (i.e., all the values in I and J cells across a given layer (K)). Vertical zones are sub units of a three-dimensional reservoir as characterized by geology. In the three-dimensional model they are defined by lumping the K layers together, for example in a model with 100 layers, first 30 layers could be lumped together as Zone 1, next 50 layers as Zone 2 and the last 20 as Zone 3.
After selecting the number of regions (block 106 of
-
- Hydrocarbon Pore Volume (HCPV=cell volume X porosity X (1−water saturation)) across different binned UTMY locations at a selected time
- Cumulative Oil produced within the selected period
- Average Water Cut across different binned UTMY locations within the selected period
- Average Static Bottom Hole Pressure (SBHP) across different binned UTMY locations within the selected period.
Window 132 illustrates the HCPV across different binned UTMY locations in a HCPV graph 150. Thus, each bar of the HCPV graph 150 of
Window 133 provides a cumulative oil graph 155 that plots the cumulative oil within the bins and the selected period of time. Similarly, window 134 provides a water cut graph 156 showing the water cut within the bins and the selected period of time, and window 135 provides a SBHP graph 157 showing the SBHP within the bins and the selected period of time. The data for the cumulative oil graph 155, the water cut graph 156, and the SBHP graph may be derived from the production data discussed above.
The example graphical user interface 130 of
The user may manipulate the data that is shown in windows 131-135 by selecting reservoir zones of interest in window 137, and the number of regions to bin and the time period in window 138. As shown in window 132, not all of the zones are shown in the HCPV graph 150 because not all of the zones are selected in window 137. In some embodiments, the user may select the bars representing the bins, which causes the existing well locations 158 to be displayed in window 136.
Once the user determines the aerial extent of interest for development, he or she may drill down further to quantify vertical layers for HCPV and the reservoir contacted by existing wells. For example, referring to block 110 of
The HCPV by layer and well index property are plotted in an updated graphical user interface 160 shown in
The 4D surveillance model is another approach to estimate current saturation, where it does not depend on simulation but rather uses the latest saturation logs in the model to populate the saturation directly through geo-statistic property distribution algorithms. Saturation values from one or both of the simulation models and 4D surveillance models. From each of these models the HCPV may be calculated. Cells where the HCPV values are higher in the 4D surveillance model may represent a missed opportunity from simulation saturation and vice-versa. To quantify this missed opportunity, a HCPV difference property is calculated and displayed in window 161. Layers where the aggregate of HCPV from 4D surveillance values providing higher HCPV from that of the simulation model are positive and colored in one color (e.g., red), wherein when this difference is negative it is colored in a different color (e.g., blue). So the layers shown in the first color capture any missed opportunity from the simulation model and the layers shown in the second color represent any missed opportunity from 4D surveillance model. This identification helps in making sure no oil in the reservoir is passed by. Thus, referring to
Window 162 shows a contact graph 173 plotting reservoir well contacts by layer of the selected region. Layers with a high well reservoir contact layer have been contacted by many wells, and may not present significant development opportunities. For example, portion 175 of the example contact graph 173 shows layers that have had many well contacts, while portion 174 of the contact graph 173 shows layers that have had fewer well contacts.
The graphs of windows 161 and 162 are aligned by layer so that the user can simultaneously see the HCPV and the well reservoir contacts for each layer. In some embodiments, selection of one or more layers in one of window 161 and window 162 will cause the corresponding layer in the other of window 161 and 162 to be highlighted (e.g., lighter in color).
Using the example of
Selection of the layers of interest cause corresponding volumes to be calculated for selected zones. The volumes that are calculated may be one or more of, without limitation: HCPV 4D (cell volume*porosity*(1−water saturation from 4D surveillance model)), HCPV Sim (cell volume*porosity*(1−water saturation from 4D simulation model)), and 4D Sim HCPV (HCPV 4D−HCPV Sim). The user may select which zone to be included in the volume calculation by selecting desired zones in the zone filter window 163. The example graphical user interface 160 of
These volume calculations are very efficient, fast and interactive compared to conventional approaches. In conventional approaches, volumes are reported for a predefined regions and are very rigid in nature and not flexible to report a volumes in different layer or region unless the regions are first defined and added as part of the input parameters. This leaves no room for performing dynamic analysis on volumes through a drill down approach, but with embodiments of the present disclosure, users are able to dynamically change the area of interest and report the corresponding HCPV volumes and opportunities in a very intuitive way by first selecting aerial region bin shown in
The graphical user interface 160 also include a button or a window 165 wherein, upon selection, another graphical user interface 180 is generated that includes a window 181 showing the aerial view of a selected portion of the three-dimensional model as shown in
In the illustrated example, the regions of a first color (e.g., red regions) represents higher opportunities from a 4D surveillance model and the regions of a second color (e.g., blue regions) represent high opportunities from a simulation model Thus, window 182 provides a 3D model representation of the final drilled down region, wherein the red and blue colors follow the same rationale as described with respect to window 161 of
The model which is being displayed may contain tens of millions of cells. Therefore, visualizing these cells altogether is almost impossible on regular computing devices, and also visualizing it provides little insights since it is difficult to make sense of the data for any user. The embodiments of the present disclosure allow users to drill down to an area of interest to ensure that it is known exactly which regions and layers are being visualized, and how much opportunities lies within the drilled down areas and layers. Additionally, the drill-down approach of embodiments of the present disclosure tremendously reduces the number of cells to visualize in 3D.
Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by a computing device, and may be embodied as computer-readable instructions stored on a non-transitory memory device.
As also illustrated in
The processor 230 may include any processing component configured to receive and execute computer readable code instructions (such as from the data storage component 236 and/or memory component 240). The input/output hardware 232 may include an electronic display device, keyboard, mouse, printer, camera, microphone, speaker, touch-screen, and/or other device for receiving, sending, and/or presenting data. The network interface hardware 234 may include any wired or wireless networking hardware, such as a modem, LAN port, wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) card, WiMax card, mobile communications hardware, and/or other hardware for communicating with other networks and/or devices, such as to receive the three-dimensional model data 238A and the production data 238B from various sources, for example.
It should be understood that the data storage component 236 may reside local to and/or remote from the computing device 200, and may be configured to store one or more pieces of data for access by the computing device 200 and/or other components. As illustrated in
Included in the memory component 240 may be the operating logic 242, the property calculating logic 243, and the display logic 244. The operating logic 242 may include an operating system and/or other software for managing components of the computing device 200. Similarly, the property calculating logic 243 may reside in the memory component 240 and may be configured to facilitate produce the various property calculations that are displayed. The display logic 244 may be configured to generate the graphical user interfaces herein and to plot the various properties described herein to enable a user to visualize regions of opportunities for field development.
It should now be understood that embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to systems and methods for calculating and displaying field development opportunities. Embodiments cross-link and analyze three-dimensional model properties (such as hydrocarbon volumes) and production data in side-by-side visualizations to allow quick identification of high potential areas of development. Conventional approaches and tools do not provide any means to analyze and correlate these two data sources together. Once a development area is identified, embodiments provide drill-down analysis by calculating hydrocarbon volumes by aerial regions and/or vertical zones and layers All of these volume calculations are performed interactively and on the fly, in contrast to conventional volume calculations which require to pre-defined areas and logics to perform a single volume calculation.
Having described the subject matter of the present disclosure in detail and by reference to specific embodiments thereof, it is noted that the various details disclosed herein should not be taken to imply that these details relate to elements that are essential components of the various embodiments described herein, even in cases where a particular element is illustrated in each of the drawings that accompany the present description. Further, it will be apparent that modifications and variations are possible without departing from the scope of the present disclosure, including, but not limited to, embodiments defined in the appended claims. More specifically, although some aspects of the present disclosure are identified herein as preferred or particularly advantageous, it is contemplated that the present disclosure is not necessarily limited to these aspects.
Claims
1. A method of displaying field development opportunities, the method comprising:
- receiving, from one or more databases, production data comprising production attributes for a plurality of wells;
- receiving, from the one or more databases, three-dimensional model data comprising model attributes from one or more fields;
- cross-linking the production data and the three-dimensional model data; and
- displaying, in an electronic display, a graphical user interface comprising: a two-dimensional view of a selected field of the one or more fields, wherein the two-dimensional view provides a first axis and a second axis; a plurality of graphs, each graph of the plurality of graphs comprising a plurality of bins, wherein: each graph of the plurality of graphs corresponds to a reservoir property; each bin of the plurality of bins corresponds to a range of values along one of the first axis and the second axis; and the plurality of graphs are arranged within the graphical user interface such that the plurality of bins are aligned with one another.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein:
- the production data further comprises well data comprising location coordinates; and
- the cross-linking is performed based on the location coordinates such that the production data and the three-dimensional model data is provided for a plurality of location coordinates.
3. The method of claim 1, wherein the reservoir property comprises two or more of hydrocarbon pore volume, cumulative oil produced, average water cut, average static bottom hole pressure, and existing well locations.
4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:
- receiving, from the graphical user interface, a selected region;
- updating the graphical user interface to display: a HCPV graph of hydrocarbon pore volume plots hydrocarbon pore volume by layer of the selected region; and a contact graph of reservoir contacts plotting reservoir well contacts by layer of the selected region, wherein the HCPV graph and the contact graph are arranged adjacent to one another such that layers of the HCPV graph are aligned with the contact graph.
5. The method of claim 4, further comprising:
- receiving one or more selected layers from the HCPV graph;
- calculating and displaying, in the graphical user interface, a volume for one or more zones of the one or more selected layers.
6. The method of claim 4, wherein the method further comprises displaying, in the graphical user interface, a three-dimensional representation of the selected region.
7. The method of claim 4, wherein the two-dimensional view of the selected field comprises colored portions, and bars of the HCPV graph are colored to match the hydrocarbon pore volume of respective colored portions of the two-dimensional view of the selected field.
8. The method of claim 1, further comprising displaying, in the graphical user interface, locations for existing wells in the selected field.
9. The method of claim 1, further comprising receiving, from the graphical user interface, one or more filters that affects the plurality of graphs.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more filters comprises a time period.
11. A system for displaying field development opportunities comprising:
- one or more processors;
- an electronic display;
- a non-transitory computer-readable memory storing instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, causes the one or more processors to: receive, from one or more databases, production data comprising production attributes for a plurality of wells; receive, from the one or more databases, three-dimensional model data comprising model attributes from one or more fields; cross-link the production data and the three-dimensional model data; and display, in the electronic display, a graphical user interface comprising: a two-dimensional view of a selected field of the one or more fields, wherein the two-dimensional view provides a first axis and a second axis; a plurality of graphs, each graph of the plurality of graphs comprising a plurality of bins, wherein: each graph of the plurality of graphs corresponds to a reservoir property; each bin of the plurality of bins corresponds to a range of values along one of the first axis and the second axis; and the plurality of graphs are arranged within the graphical user interface such that the plurality of bins are aligned with one another.
12. The system of claim 11, wherein:
- the production data further comprises well data comprising location coordinates; and
- the production data and the three-dimensional model data are cross-linked based on the location coordinates such that the production data and the three-dimensional model data is provided for a plurality of location coordinates.
13. The system of claim 11, wherein the reservoir property comprises two or more of hydrocarbon pore volume, cumulative oil produced, average water cut, average static bottom hole pressure, and existing well locations.
14. The system of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to:
- receive, from the graphical user interface, a selected region;
- update the graphical user interface to display: a HCPV graph of hydrocarbon pore volume plots hydrocarbon pore volume by layer of the selected region; and a contact graph of reservoir contacts plotting reservoir well contacts by layer of the selected region, wherein the HCPV graph and the contact graph are arranged adjacent to one another such that layers of the HCPV graph are aligned with the contact graph.
15. The system of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to:
- receive one or more selected layers from the HCPV graph;
- calculate and display, in the graphical user interface, a volume for one or more zones of the one or more selected layers.
16. The system of claim 14, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to display, in the graphical user interface, a three-dimensional representation of the selected region.
17. The system of claim 14, wherein the two-dimensional view of the selected field comprises colored zones, and bars of the HCPV graph are colored to match the hydrocarbon pore volume of respective colored zones of the two-dimensional view of the selected field.
18. The system of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to display, in the graphical user interface, locations for existing wells in the selected field.
19. The system of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the one or more processors to receive, from the graphical user interface, one or more filters that affects the plurality of graphs.
20. The system of claim 19, wherein the one or more filters comprises a time period.
Type: Application
Filed: Oct 19, 2020
Publication Date: Nov 11, 2021
Patent Grant number: 11549359
Applicant: Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Dhahran)
Inventors: Waqas Ahmed Khan (Khobar), Nauman Aqeel (Dhahran), Ali M. Al-Shahri (Doha)
Application Number: 17/073,802